Who's got the best and least expensive Cell phone plan for smart phones, today ? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Who's got the best and least expensive Cell phone plan for smart phones, today ?

mylittledogs · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have used 4 different company plans an to us Verizon is the best carrier. We have unlimited text an talk ,10gb data. We started with verizon an over the years went to the three others. But are now back with Verizon. It works best for us.

Kenny & frances

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

mylittledogs wrote:
We have used 4 different company plans an to us Verizon is the best carrier. We have unlimited text an talk ,10gb data. We started with verizon an over the years went to the three others. But are now back with Verizon. It works best for us.

Kenny & frances

Thanks for posting..

Do you find the the 10gb enough ? You only use that for your internet right? Nothing else?

Thanks

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

This just out over the newswires today...

http://www.marke****ch.com/story/sprint-to-unveil-new-pricing-plans-2014-08-15-91032728

Brian

On edit... okay lets try this

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS--At the end of July, new Sprint Corp. chief Marcelo Claure started following T-Mobile US Inc. on Twitter.

Now, he’s got to figure out a way to get ahead of his rival in the market.

Claure is preparing to roll out new price plans next week that could offer much cheaper prices, much bigger allotments of wireless data, or both. The company wrapped up testing of those plans Thursday and is planning an announcement as early as next week, people familiar with the matter said.

Details of the trial plans give an idea where Sprint could be headed. In Chicago, Sprint tested a plan that offered unlimited talk, text and data for $50 a month -- $30 less than a similar plan from T-Mobile and something market leaders Verizon Inc. and AT&T don’t offer at all. T-Mobile has a $50 a month plan, but it only includes 1 gigabyte of 4G LTE data. The closest offering from Verizon is a $45 plan that only allows 250 megabytes of data.

In Portland, Ore., Sprint tested a plan that would gives a family of four lines for four smartphones and 20 gigabytes of data to share for $160, the same price as plans offered by AT&T and Verizon, but with twice as much data.

the story is also on WSJ.com

-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 15th of August 2014 11:46:37 AM

-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 15th of August 2014 11:48:33 AM

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve,

I will answer the "best" portion of your question, from our perspective--which is not the least expensive approach, since it involves having two different service plans.

We liked Technomadia/Cherie's approach, that one person has a Verizon smart phone plan and the other has a AT&T plan, to maximize coverage. I believe Cherie has shared that if you were to go with solely one carrier, Verizon has the best overall coverage.

We are happy that we choose to go with both carriers, because in our several months on the road we have run into situations where Verizon's coverage was very weak/non-existent and the same for AT&T. By having a plan with both carriers, we have always had data and cell coverage, something that is important to us. If we were to choose only one carrier, it would be Verizon.

Lynn

On edit: No service plan is perfect. The park we are in has very limited AT&T service and the Verizon plan is not perfect (i.e., I had issues finishing this posting via Verizon).

-- Edited by Lynn and Ed on Friday 15th of August 2014 04:48:32 PM

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mine is 450.00 a year. unlimited data, text, call. Straight talk. We have the S3 Samsungs.

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Glenn West wrote:
Mine is 450.00 a year. unlimited data, text, call. Straight talk. We have the S3 Samsungs.

I was looking at that .. then I seen this... Is this what you have?

*30 day Unlimited Plans include 3 GB of high speed data per 30 day cycle. After 3 GB, your data speed will be reduced for the remainder of the 30 day cycle. High speed data is restored once a new 30 day service plan is redeemed at the end of the 30 day plan cycle. Other limitations, terms and conditions of service apply. Straight Talk reserves the right to terminate your service for unauthorized or abnormal usage. Please refer always to the latest Terms and Conditions of service.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have family on Sprint and they are the ones always complaining about lack of coverage while traveling and slow data speeds. Most are on 4GLTE smartphones, so they are using data. T-Mobile coverage is also lacking, but less complaining of data speed when they have service. Verizon and AT&T are close in coverage and common data speeds, with Verizon having the edge. You can get pre-paid phones on these networks but can't use them to tether. If you want to tether, you have to go with real carrier.

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Can anyone tell me how much downloading "might" be needed for 2 fairly heavy users of places like forums, ebay, searching for prices, etc..

Seems like Verizon still the direction for us.. Stuff is so expensive though.. maybe $180 for verizon.. another $90 for 3rd party internet w/ 20gb.. Man.. pushing $300/ mo..That can't happen unless I justiy it by working some.. and would rather not work for a bit.. maybe..

Bob and Cheri · RV-Dreams Family Member

Might want to check out Consumer Cellular. They use ATT equipment and towers but cheaper. We got a discount through AARP.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you are using your smartphones as smartphones and not tethering via wifi (hotspot) or a cable, most find that they use under 2GB per month per phone, often less and sometimes more. You will find that many of the prepaid phone plans are priced accordingly. Your typical teen can use 10GB or more per smartphone per month since everything they do is video and photo sharing. Running computers and tablets, you can use huge amounts if you watch video, do downloads, hook up smart devices like TVs, etc. There are people who think they are heavy users and use 3GB total for everything. Others with unlimited plans and hotspotting use 50 or more GB each. We use about 3 to 4GB on phones and 12 to 18GB for everything else.

Talensnana · RV-Dreams Family Member

We use Straight Talk for our phones. In our area it runs of att or Verizon. Since we have iPhones we use the AT&T network. For our wifi when traveling we use a AT&T data plan on my DH Ipad and it acts as a hotspot for all the other devices. This has worked very we'll for us. Straight talk is $45 a month for each phone and includes unlimited calls, texts and wifi. The AT&T hotspot is $70 per month and is 10 gb.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

45 monthly or 450 yearly. We always do a year, get 2 months free. We have been with Straight talk for several years. Can't complain, as good as any other cell phone. There are places where no cell works. We have never seen our speeds slow down or get a message from company. I don't facebook, not my cup of tea. At home we use our laptops. If one has a lot of teenagers, a family share plan would likely be less money. But for 1 or 2 people Striaght talk is a good alternative. We don't get 4g on Verizon service with Straight talk. Don't bother us, might be important to you. They do offer 4g on Sprint service with Straight talk. We can't see spending hundreds monthly on cell phones.

mylittledogs · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are on a family plan with our daughter. Four smart phones. We tether two with our tablets. The plan has unlimited talk an text. 10 g's data. $10.00 a g over the user amount. $220. A month for all. We pay $105.00 a month. We have had it for 4 months now, have come close to the 10 g's but have not went over yet. But we dont do a lot of emails, videos or music. I'm already sure you know what eats up data. When we know we are going to use a lot of data we look for a wifi connection.

Kenny & frances

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Going to run with Verizon for now.. Not confident in The Mellicom direction.. or the other companies that throttle down after a few gb..

Lets see how much I use.. If I can stay around 200/mo with verizon.. I'll be happy..

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

That is $2400 yearly. We used to do that. Never again.

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Glenn West wrote:
That is $2400 yearly. We used to do that. Never again.

Thats phone too..I pay more now..